when refrigerators die

Many weeks ago, Ana and I put in a request to our landlady for a refrigerator with a freezer. The puny ice box in our current one just wasn't cutting it; our ice cream always turned to mush! Our landlady loves us, so she got right to work ordering a fridge with a separate freezer that would fit in our tiny apartment. The first new fridge they tried to wedge in here was 1 inch too wide. The second fridge 8 inches too wide. The third fridge was just right. Finally, a freezer!

But the troubles weren't over. About 6 hours after plugging in our perfect new refrigerator, it crapped out! We called the landlady right away, but she wasn't able to come up with any immediate solutions. After 24 hours with no cooling action, our leftovers and dairy were a total loss.
Here you see the first wave of food carnage. After the loss of my precious cheese and deli meats, I decided to be a bit more proactive. Ice block time! Produce drawers filled with ice became make shift motors, saving the last of the condiments and preserved foods. It's actually pretty cold in there now!

Unfortunately, lack of air circulation meant that anything not stored in a glass container was contaminated with new plastic smell. Goodbye, produce.
Ironically, it's business as usual for the built-in ice box. The racks are all gone and the plumbing to the drain was removed years ago, so I just use it to store liquor and wine. Nothing expired in there!

shake weight

The other day, I was strolling through Target. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I grabbed some hair stuff, some snacks, a dozen eggs (I'm loving the "fresh" food section they just put in).

As I was walking toward the register destiny struck. In the center of a mostly empty end-cap of cold medicine was an abandoned shake weight. It called to me. I knew instantly that I had to bring it home with me.

In case I had any doubts as to whether the shake weight and I were meant to be, the register set me right. When my checker scanned the shake weight, she handed me a free $5 gift card, part of a shake weight promo. An extra $5 to spend at Target!? Fate has smiles upon me.

helicopter ride

I went on a family vacation to Oregon last week. We started out inland, staying a night in McMinnville, a cute antique shop filled town where we took a helicopter ride! I've never been in a helicopter before, and the sensation of flying in one was very different than I was expecting. Takeoff felt like we were being lifted by a bungee cord! Once in the air, it was smooth and fantastic. We were cruising around at over 100 mile an hour. Too bad McMinnville wasn't very exciting to see from the air, but overall the experience was wonderful!

lake samish

Hello blog, how have you been? Did you know I went to Bellingham a few weeks ago? It was lovely! Ana and I took the scenic route on the way up there. We stopped in Mt Vernon for a pub lunch and some antiquing, then headed north on Old Chuckanut Drive. It was the only sunny day all week and we decided getting lost would be a good idea. After a windy drive through the woods, we found a place we had never been, Lake Samish.

other places

My new favorite blog to look at is Design Crush. All of her posts are short and sweet, with tons of fun products and art to drool over, and the most amazing recipes for foods I never knew I always wanted to make! Check it out, you might get a crush too.

making friends

I'm tired of not knowing anyone in my apartment building, so I made a little poster to put by the mail boxes. Hopefully I will make some new friends. I'm no graphic designer, but I think this is pretty groovy.

farewell cupcake

Today, I sent my beloved childhood pet to the big litter box in the sky. I've loved her for 16 years and she's lived a full and pampered life. It was difficult to make the decision to let her go, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

When I hugged her goodbye at vet's office, she wasn't afraid. She relaxed in my arms and purred - she's never done that at the vet before. At that moment, I knew she was ready.

So farewell, Cupcake. I'll always love you!

guemes island

I went on an adventure to hang out with Caitlin, Sara, and Ana on Guemes Island this weekend. It's a tiny island off the shore of Anacortes. We stayed at an interesting artist's studio right next to the little cemetery. Here are some photos of our explorations.

three great covers

Recently, I've been obsessing over covers. Over the last few months, I've come across a few that stand up as equals with the originals, and the originals are really wonderful. So check them out!

First up, Going Up The Country. The original by Canned Heat is a twangy acoustic blues-rock piece. Imagine yourself sitting out on the porch with a cold beer while you listen to this one. The cover by Kitty, Daisy and Lewis is fantastic departure, in a '50s Hawaiian-rockabilly style. Tap your toes and start dancin!
Canned Heat - Going up the Country
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Going up the Country


Next is My Girls, or in the case of the cover, My Boys. The original by Animal Collective is a stunningly beautiful experimental indie rock ballad. Its serene, peaceful, and inspiring to listen to. The cover is performed by Swedish indie artist Taken By Trees, in a bouncy folk style. Sweet, lively, and just plain happy.
Animal Collective - My Girls
Taken By Trees - My Boys

Finally, one of my favorite songs of all time, Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Tears for Fears' original version is a piece of 80's synth rock perfection. It's the epitome of the genre. The cover by Clare and the Reasons is a cheeky orchestral indie-folk delight. This live performance for Daytrotter is honest and lovely.
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Clare and the Reasons - Everybody Wants to Rule the World

I hope you envoy all 6 of these songs as much as I do. Happy listening!

PS - If you love them, go buy them! Support the artists, y'all.

kittens

A few months ago, word spread around the office that there were kittens in our warehouse. I set out to investigate. Turns out, there were 3 baby kitties and their mama. We trapped the babies old school style under a laundry basket with a stick and string. They came home with my sister and I, and soon became cuddly little house cats.

Catching their mama required a borrowed trap from the Humane Society. We got her fixed, vaccinated, and released her back into her warehouse home to continue killing mice. We give her extra food and water too, just to make sure she sticks around.

The kittens are doing very well as house cats:

Charlie here is the only one still around. He's inquisitive, rambunctious, and loves Christmas wreaths. We might end up keeping this little ball of energy.

Eddie was recently adopted by my buddy Dane. Eddie is sensitive, reserved, and loves watching computer screens.

Georgie was the most difficult to tame, but turned out to be the most cuddly of the bunch. She was adopted by a friend's mom, Carol, and she looooves her new mommy.

new home

The months before graduation were so hectic and stressful, there were a few times that I almost threw in the towel out of shear exhaustion. With a some much appreciated support from a few close friends, I made it through to the other side, dazed, confused, but with degree in hand! Needless to say, I needed a little time off to let my brain heal.

I decided to move back into my parents house so I could save some money and plan for the next stage in my life. Unfortunately, putting my adult life on hold wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Most of the pit falls were easy enough to patch up, but some of them are much harder to come to terms with. Maybe these things were all meant to be. Then again, maybe the answers are waiting just ahead. Only time will tell.

As planned, with the new year came a new living arrangement. Despite my yearning to live somewhere like Seattle or San Francisco, I actually really love my job here in Tacoma, so I decided to stick around for a while longer. My sister and I are now sharing a super cute vintage apartment in the heart of downtown Tacoma. It's the first apartment that either of us have payed for completely on our own. Needless to say, we are very excited for this huge milestone!

Being self sufficient for the first time in an immensely wonderful feeling. Not that I didn't enjoy hanging around my parents house, because that certainly had it's perks; but it's incredibly uplifting to come home to a beautiful place that's truly my own.

So cheers to having a job, a roommate, and a home that I love!

Here are a few photos to help everyone get acquainted with my new place. Forgive the darkness, but daylight is hard to come by this time of year. Maybe I'll capture some this weekend.

here's our 1920's original kitchen, complete with ice box

the pink and turquoise bathroom, matching paisley shower curtain is a must!

the very intimate sitting area with its vintage love seats and Chinese tea tables

and my little boudoir. I haven't been able to hang my art yet since no store in town seems to carry hooks for picture molding. I had to order some from a catalog!

work stuff

My company decorated for a northwest camping themed party last week. Here are a few photos I took just before the lights were dimmed for the event.

Check out more of our work at PJHummel.com

walking to work

I walked to work from downtown Tacoma the other day. It was a beautiful morning and I wanted to share it :)

The old 11th st bridge. The road deck is in bad shape, so it's closed to cars, but it's still open to pedestrians.

Here's the view from the bridge.

A cool old warehouse close to my work.

Another cool old ware house. Wonder how level the second floor is...

This last one was taken at Riley's mama's house in Olympia. It rained almost all weekend, but there was a break on Sunday morning and we got to see this awesome rainbow that ended in the bay wigght outside the window. So pretty!

Vancouver

Momma, Ana and I went to Vancouver BC over the weekend. We spent a day running around and checking out the Vancouver Museum and all of the neat neighborhoods in the greater downtown area. Here are some photos of us in China Town!

outside a dry goods store

filleted lizards

momma thought they were gross

this is a tea shop

playboy = cosmopolitan

I came across this old Playboy article today. Amazing! Apparently you can tell everything about a woman just by the way she crosses her legs.

Strikingly similar to this article about men from Cosmo.






source: the selvedge yard

stemware

After finalizing the design for my aluminum stemware, I created some 3D computer models in Rhinoceros CAD and got them SLAed (3d printed). The result is what you see below.

These models are currently at a foundry, being cast in aluminum. They have a hollow, honeycomb internal structure and are very delicate so that the aluminum can easily fill the cavity. The red portions are foundry wax, which I used to beef up the areas that might have been too thin to cast well.

It's a shame that they're about to be incinerated by molten metal. The wax and translucent plastic were really beautiful.